PENGUIN PLAYS

THIS PAGE 'PL' PL1 - PL100

The first 'Plays' book published was in the Main series no. 117 as a red covered book Famous One Act Plays. That was in November 1937. There followed several other books of plays, including a whole selection of works by George Bernard Shaw. While the Main series gave birth to Pelicans, and to 'Penguin New Writing' from No. 305, and Pelican Specials led to Penguin Handbooks, it was only in 1959 that Penguin decided to create a separate PLAYS series.

The separate series of PENGUIN PLAYS was launched with G. B. Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma as 'PL1', which was originally published as Penguin No. 564 on 26 July 1946 as part of a uniform set of 10 volumes of Shaw's work. The Penguin Plays series went on to incorporate the 'New English Dramatists', which were included in the series from 1959 with volume PL32. Various cover designs have been used, the first 47 titles (PL1 - PL47) give a "curtain effect".

PL4

Series No.: PL4
Title: PLAYS PLEASANT: ARMS AND THE MAN; CANDIDA; THE MAN OF DESTINY; YOU NEVER CAN TELL
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Date Published: 1959
Previous Penguin Publication: 26 July 1946 as No. 560
Pages: 320pp.
Printer: R. and R. Clark Ltd
Price: 3/6d.
'Arms and the Man' was later re-issued as PL102 and 'Candida' as PL103
Image of 1961 reprint

PL33

Series No.: PL33
Title: FOUR ENGLISH COMEDIES OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES: VOLPONE (Jonson); THE WAY OF THE WORLD (Congreve); SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (Goldsmith); SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL (Sheridan)
Edited: by J. M. Morrell
Date Published: March 1959
Previous Penguin Publication: Issued as No. 763
Pages: 414pp.
Printer: C. Nicholls and Co Ltd
Price: 3/6d.

PL34

Series No.: PL34
Title: THE RULES OF THE GAME; THE LIFE I GAVE YOU; LAZARUS
Author: Luigi Pirandello
Edited: and with an introduction by E. Martin Browne
Date Published: November 1959
Pages: 224pp.
Printer: Unwin Brothers Ltd
Price: 3/6d.
Later re-issued as PL85

PL39

Series No.: PL39
Title: NEW ENGLISH DRAMATISTS, 3 THE LONG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL (Willie Hall); LIVE LIKE PIGS (John Arden); THE DUMB WAITER (Harold Pinter)
Introduced: by J. W. Lambert
Edited: by Tom Maschler
Date Published: April 1961
Pages: 216pp.
Printer: C. Nicholls and Co Ltd
Price: 2/6d.
Also see PL57

PL49

Series No.: PL49
Title: THE LONG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL (Willie Hall); THE DUMB WAITER (Harold Pinter); A RESOUNDING TINKLE (N. F. Simpson)
Cover design: by Denise York
Date Published: July 1964
Previous Penguin Publication: 'The Long and the Short and the Tall' and 'The Dumb Waiter' were in PL39; 'A Resounding Tinkle' was in PL38
Pages: 224pp.
Printer: Cox and Wyman Ltd
Price: 3/6d.

PL56

Series No.: PL56
Title: THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
Author: Tennessee Williams
Date Published: October 1964
re-issued later in PL81

PL57

Series No.: PL57
Title: THREE PLAYS: THE WATERS OF BABYLON; LIVE LIKE PIGS; THE HAPPY HAVEN
Author: John Arden
Introduced: by John Russell Taylor
Cover design: by Denise York
Date Published: November 1964
Previous Penguin Publication: 'Live Like Pigs' in PL39; 'The Happy Haven' in PL40
Pages: 272pp.
Printer: Cox and Wyman Ltd
Price: 4/6d.

PL58

Series No.: PL58
Title: ABSURD DRAMA: AMÉDÉE OR HOW TO GET RID OF IT (Eugène Ionesco); PROFESSOR TARANNE (Arthur Adamov); THE ZOO STORY (Edward Albee)
Edited: and with an introduction by Martin Esslin
Cover design: by Denise York
Date Published: April 1965
Pages: 192pp.
Printer: C. Nicholls Ltd
Price: 3/6d.

PL63

Series No.: PL63
Title: PARABLES FOR THE THEATRE: Two Plays by Bertolt Brecht THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN; THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE
Author: Bertolt Brecht
Revised: English version by Eric Bentley
Cover design: by Denise York
Date Published: July 1966
Pages: 208pp.
Printer: Western Printing Services Ltd
Price: 4/6d.

PL72

Series No.: PL72
Title: THEATRE OF WAR: VASCO (Georges Schehadé); THE GENERALS' TEA PARTY (Boris Vian); THE CIVIL WAR (Henry de Montherlant);
Edited: and with an introduction by Robert Baldick
Date Published: November 1967
Pages: 272pp.
Printer: Western Printing Services Ltd
Price: 6/-

PL75

Series No.: PL75
Title: NEW ENGLISH DRAMATISTS, 12 (RADIO PLAYS): THE OBJECT (Giles Cooper); NO QUARTER (Barry Bermange); THE ANTS (Caryl Churchill); THE WHELKS AND THE CHROMIUM (Jeremy Sandford); THE LONG-DISTANCE PIANO PLAYER (Alan Sharp); HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN (Cecil Taylor);
Introduction: by Irving Wardle
Date Published: May 1968

PL79

PL80

Series No.: PL80
Title: THREE PLAYS: THE LONG AND THE SHORT AND THE TALL (William Hall); EACH HIS OWN WILDERNESS (Doris Lessing); YES, AND AFTER (Michael Hastings)
Cover design: by Henning Boehlke
Date Published: April 1968
Pages: 240pp.
Printer: Cox and Wyman Ltd
Price: 5/-
Plays previously in PL39, PL32 and PL40 respectively

PL81

Series No.: PL81
Title: THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA; ORPHEUS DESCENDING
Author: Tennessee Williams
Date Published: September 1968
Previously published in PL56 and PL23

PL82

Series No.: PL82
Title: BABY DOLL; SOMETHING UNSPOKEN; SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER
Author: Tennessee Williams
Date Published: October 1968
Previously published in 1233, and the second two in PL24

Series No.: PL94
Title: TIME AND THE CONWAYS AND OTHER PLAYS: I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE; AN INSPECTOR CALLS; THE LINDEN TREE
Author: J. B. Priestly
Date Published: September 1969

PL95

PL96

Series No.: PL96
Title: THE PLAY OF HADRIAN VII Based on Hadrian the Seventh and other works by Fr. Rolfe (Baron Corvo)
Author: Peter Luke
Cover design: by Henning Boehlke
Date Published: August 1969
Pages: 86pp.
Printer: Cox and Wyman Ltd
Price: 20p 4/-

PL97

Series No.: PL97
Title: THE LIVING ROOM
Author: Graham Greene

PL98

Series No.: PL98
Title: THE PRICE
Author: Arthur Miller

PL99

Series No.: PL99
Title: THE BOYS IN THE BAND
Author: Mart Crowley

PL100

Series No.: PL100
Title: CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Previously published in PL2

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